Preventing on-line violations of legal regulations on users of a communication system

ABSTRACT

A system for preventing on-line violations of open meeting regulations and similar laws, in which one or more special classes of users are defined for an electronic communication system. The definition of each special class may include quorum requirements, including the number of group members that make up a quorum for that special class. Users identified as members of special classes may be reminded of the restrictions on communications using the communication system arising from that special class membership. When a user composes a message for posting or sending through the communication system, the user&#39;s identity is checked to determine whether they are a member of a restricted special class. If the user is a member of a special class, a determination is made as to whether posting or sending the message would violate any legal restrictions associated with that special class.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation application under 35 U.S.C.120 of commonly owned prior application Ser. No. 11/554,134, filed onOct. 30, 2006 in the names of Robert C. Weir et al., now allowed, alldisclosures of which are hereby included by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed system relates generally to automated systems forcontrolling information shared between computer system users, and morespecifically to a method and system for preventing on-line violations ofopen meeting regulations and similar laws.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In various contexts or situations, requirements exist to the effect thata specific group of people cannot discuss certain topics or subjectmatter in private. Often these requirements arise out of regulationsthat are designed to protect the public's right to be informed aboutcertain matters. For example, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts hasenacted the Open Meeting Law (“OML”) (Massachusetts General Laws—Chapter39, Section 23B), which governs the behavior of all state and municipalboards. As in many such regulations, the provisions of the OML prohibita quorum of board members from meeting and deliberating on matters ofpublic business in private, i.e. outside of duly posted and constitutedpublic board meetings. The Massachusetts Attorney General and the courtshave interpreted this law to apply to so-called “serial quorums” or“revolving door” meetings, in which a quorum of members participates ina serial fashion, e.g. one member discussing public business with otherboard members one at a time, but never actually with a concurrent quorumdeliberating. See Open Meeting Law Guidelines, Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, Office of the Attorney General, page 26. It is likelythat similar interpretations are or will be made with regard to othersimilar regulations intended to protect the public's right to beinformed about matters of public interest.

Problems have arisen due to the fact that regulations such as the OMLwere written before the widespread adoption of the Internet, andaccordingly before the existence of popular communication channelsprovided over the Internet, including synchronous communicationapplications such as Internet chat rooms, Web conferences, electronicmeetings, etc., and also including asynchronous communicationapplications such as electronic mail, on-line discussion forums, andothers. For example, in Massachusetts, the issue of the applicability ofthese regulations to on-line communications has recently been raised inthe press, and with the Middlesex District Attorney. It has generallybeen acknowledged that a quorum of board members deliberating boardbusiness via private email is impermissible, as well as discussion by aquorum of members within a closed, on-line discussion forum.

Existing systems have fallen significantly short of providing aneffective solution to these problems. For example, a prohibition couldbe applied to an entire class of persons preventing them fromparticipating in all electronic communications. However, this simplisticapproach would be overly restrictive, since it prevents many legal anduseful communications from occurring. Another possible solution wouldrequire automatic logging of all users that participate in a chat roomor forum, etc., so that if someone later alleges an violation, it can bemore easily investigated. This approach, however, does not prevent theproblem from occurring in the first place, or give participants fairwarning to avoid an inadvertent prohibited contact.

United States published patent application US20030236751A1, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Managing Conflicts of Interest During theSelection of Legal and Legal-Related Service Providers”, describes amethod for avoiding conflicts of interest when a client submits arequest for proposals (“RFP”) to a pool of legal service providers. Byhaving the clients list their opponents, and the service providers listtheir clients, a host system in US20030236751A1 can prevent an RFP frombeing viewed by a service provider who might have a potential conflictof interest with the client that posted the RFC. However, the teachingsof US20030236751A1 are narrowly directed to this specific purpose, andinclude no teaching or suggestion of dealing with the concept of aquorum, such that one or more specified persons may participate in theelectronic communications channel, but not a full quorum.

In the context of on-line voting systems (e.g. as found athttp://www.votenet.com), software is used to verify quorum requirementsfor voting. Some such systems can verify that a minimum number orpercentage of votes from qualified classes of people are cast before aballot can give valid results. These types of existing systems aredesigned for use in holding elections, and not for online communicationssystems such as instant messaging, email, discussion forums, etc.Additionally, existing on-line voting systems also include no techniquesfor preventing online communications that cause a serial quorum tooccur, and are instead concerned with validating participation of votersin an on-line vote.

Some other existing systems have enforced quotas and other mechanismsfor limiting concurrent access to a system resource. For example, suchan existing system might limit the number users that can be concurrentlylogged onto an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site. Another such systemfor a telephone-based customer service line may allow only a limitednumber of people to be added to a waiting queue, and cause any callersbeyond that limit get a busy signal. These types of systems are intendedto bound costs, limit system resource utilization, and to ensure minimumservice levels to system users. However, these existing systems arelimited to access restrictions on concurrent access by users, and failto address cases of serial access, e.g. via asynchronous communicationchannels, such as on-line discussion forums. Also, in the area ofsynchronous communication mechanisms, these existing systems include noprovision for determining a number of users relevant to quorum based notonly on the number of concurrent board members or the like that arepresently chatting, but also on the number of such special users whichhave been chatting. Accordingly there is no way to address concernsrelating to detection and prevention of serial quorums with regard tosynchronous communication channels.

For the above reasons and others, it would be desirable to have a newsystem for controlling the use of electronic communication systems thatallows a specific class of user, such as board members or the like, toconveniently use online communications, but that also effectivelyprevents inadvertent violations of public meeting and similarregulations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To address the above described and other shortfalls of previousapproaches, a new method and system are disclosed for preventing on-lineviolations of open meeting regulations and the like. In the disclosedsystem, one or more special classes of users are defined for anelectronic communication system. For example, the definition of eachspecial class may include quorum requirements, including the number ofmembers of the special class that make up a quorum. Users are thenregistered to use the communication system. When a user is registered,an indication is stored as to whether that user is a member of a specialclass. A user may be determined to be a member of a special class in anyappropriate manner. For example, a user may be determined to be a memberof a special class as a result of the user indicating in a userregistration or message composition user interface that they are amember of the special class, as a result of the user being identified asa member of the special class in a list of class members entered througha special class definition user interface, or in some other appropriateway for a given embodiment. In response to a user being identified as amember of a special class, in one embodiment of the disclosed systemthey are reminded of the restrictions on communications using thecommunication system arising from that membership.

When a user composes a message for posting or sending through thecommunication system, a determination is made as to whether they are amember of a special class. For example, the user's identity may bechecked against a special class group database to determine whether theyare a member of a special class. If the user is not a member of aspecial class, then their message is passed into the communicationsystem for posting and/or delivery to its indicated recipients.Otherwise, if the user is a member of a special class, then adetermination is made as to whether posting or sending the message wouldtrigger any restrictions associated with that class of users. Forexample, in one embodiment, if a user is a member of a special classprohibiting communications resulting in a serial or other type ofquorum, then the disclosed system would calculate the total number ofgroup members participating in the communication to which the messagewould be added.

For example, in an on-line discussion forum in which replies are postedto topics to form discussion threads, the disclosed system woulddetermine how many members of the class have previously added one ormore messages to the discussion thread to which the message currentlybeing composed would be added, and then determine whether the quorum forthe class would be reached if the current message were added to thatdiscussion thread.

Alternatively, in. an e-mail communication system, participants in acommunication to which the message is to be added may be determinedbased on the class members that are included as intended recipients ofthe current message. In addition, previous recipients of the message maybe counted as participants in the communication, such as when themessage is being forwarded between multiple users. Other examples ofdetermining the participants in a communication to which the message isto be added include counting the current participants in a real-time,on-line meeting, such as a chat session, or Web conference. In any case,if the number of group members participating in a communication wouldreach the quorum number for the special class if the message were addedto the communication, then the message is rejected, and prevented fromentry into the communication system.

In the event a message is rejected, in one embodiment of the disclosedsystem, the user is notified of the rejection, and may also be notifiedof one or more permitted options for the message, such as having themessage added to the agenda of a scheduled public meeting associatedwith the special class of users.

Thus there is disclosed a system that allows for communicationtechnology to be structured so that it allows a specific class of user,such as board member or the like, to conveniently use onlinecommunications, and that also effectively prevents inadvertentviolations of public meeting and similar regulations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification.The invention, both as to organization and method of operation, togetherwith objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understoodby reference to the following detailed description when read with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing hardware and software components in anillustrative embodiment of the disclosed system;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing steps performed in an illustrativeembodiment of the disclosed system;

FIG. 3 is another flow chart showing steps performed in an illustrativeembodiment of the disclosed system;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing steps performed in an alternativeillustrative embodiment of the disclosed system;

FIG. 5 is a simplified screen shot showing a special class definitionuser interface for an illustrative embodiment of the disclosed system;

FIG. 6 is a simplified screen shot showing a message rejection userinterface for an illustrative embodiment of the disclosed system; and

FIG. 7 is a simplified screen shot showing a message composition userinterface for an illustrative embodiment of the disclosed system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing hardware and software components in anillustrative embodiment of the disclosed system. As shown in FIG. 1,software components in an operational environment including anillustrative embodiment of the disclosed system include server system(s)10, communication network 12, and client systems 14. The serversystem(s) 10 is shown including communication application software 22,together with communication checking logic 24 and board membershipdatabase 26. The board membership database 26 is an illustrative exampleof a database in which are stored indications of whether specific usersare members of special user classes. A registered user profile databasemay be used additionally, or as an alternative to the board membershipdatabase 26, in order to store indications of special class membershipfor specific users.

In the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 1, the communication checkinglogic 24 includes quorum counters that are used to count the number ofmembers in a special class that are participating in a communication towhich a message would be added if it were allowed into the communicationapplication 22. For purposes of example, in the illustrative embodimentof FIG. 1, the board membership database includes membership lists ofone or more specific boards, and the quorum requirements associated withthose boards.

The client systems 14 include client systems associated with users 20that are members of special user classes (e.g. board member users),shown as client systems 14 a, 14 b, etc., as well as client systems thatare associated with users 21 that are not members of special classes(e.g. non-board member users), shown as client systems 14 c, 14 d, etc.Each of the client systems 14 includes client software, shown as clientsoftware 16 a, 16 b, 16 c, 16 d, etc., which generates a user interfacethrough which the communication application 22 can be accessed, andshown for purposes of illustration in FIG. 1 as user interfaces 18 a, 18b, and 18 c. The user interfaces to the communication application 22 maybe embodied as any specific type of user interface. For example, in oneembodiment, client system software may be made up of or include abrowser application program operable to present Web pages received overthe communication network 12, from the communication application 22,e.g. through a multi-window graphical user interface.

The user interface provided to the communication application 22 may benavigated using any specific type of user interface device, such as acomputer keyboard or mouse, and/or using voice commands or the like.

The server system(s) 10 may be embodied as any specific number ofsoftware processes and/or components executing on one ore more computersystems that are communicably connected. Such computer systems may, forexample, each consist of at least one processor, program storage, suchas memory, for storing program code executable on the processor, one ormore input/output devices and/or interfaces, such as data communicationand/or peripheral devices and/or interfaces, and may each furtherinclude appropriate operating system software. Similarly, the clientsystems 14 may include any specific type of computer system or othertype of client device, such as, for example, desktop computer systems,PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), cell phones, tablet PCs, or anyother appropriate device capable of providing the user interface 18 to auser. The communication network 12 through which are connected theserver system(s) 10 and the client systems 14 may include or be made upof a data communication network, such as the Internet, a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), or any other specific type of communication system ornetwork.

While a client-server embodiment is shown in FIG. 1, in which the userinterface is provided by a separate client system from the serversystem, the disclosed system is not limited to such an approach.Accordingly, alternative embodiments may include software correspondingto the server application software 22 as well as software correspondingto the client software (16 a, 16 b, 16 c, 16 d, etc.) both with a singlecomputer system.

The communication application software 22 may be embodied as anyspecific computer program that operates at least in part by providingasynchronous or synchronous electronic communications between multipleusers. For example, the communication application 22 may also beembodied, for example, as an asynchronous communication application.Examples of such asynchronous communication applications that may beused include on-line discussion forum applications that enable users toenter text replies to message threads contained under specified topics,electronic mail (“e-mail”) applications, and others.

Alternatively, the communication application 22 may be embodied as asynchronous communication application, in which multiple on-line usersconcurrently participate in a communication session. Examples of suchsynchronous communication applications include instant messaging (i.e.“chat”) applications, electronic meeting applications, Web conferencingapplications, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) applications, andothers.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing steps performed in an illustrativeembodiment of the disclosed system. The steps described by the flowchart of FIG. 2 may, for example, be performed by the communicationchecking logic 24 and/or communication application software 22,operating at least in part through the user interfaces on the clientsystems 14 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, at step 36 an embodiment of the disclosed systemdefines one or more special classes of users. The special classdefinitions made at step 36 include information describing each specialclass. Such information may, for a given special class, include namesand/or identifiers for each of the members of the class, a class name,and quorum requirements for the class. Quorum requirements for a specialclass group may include a number of group members that constitutes aquorum for the class of users. For example, a special class of userscorresponding to a board or the like might have a quorum number of 5. Insuch a case, the disclosed system would operate to prevent non-publiccommunications involving 5 or more of the members of the special class.The information associated with a special class may further includeinformation regarding one or more public meetings associated with thespecial class, and potentially an electronically represented and storedagenda for such meetings.

At step 38, a user enters the electronic communication system, such asthe electronic communication system provided by the communicationapplication software 22 shown in FIG. 1. Entry into the communicationsystem may involve the user logging in, for example by providing ausername and password or other authentication information.

At step 40, an embodiment of the disclosed system determines whetherthis is the first time that the user has used the communication system.If so, step 40 is followed by step 42, in which the user registers withthe communication system. Otherwise, step 40 is followed by step 44.

Registration of the user at step 42 may, for example, include the userproviding indication of whether they are a member of any special class,identifying any special classes of which they are a member, providingtheir user identifiers through which can be identified any special classof which they are members, and/or providing any other relevantinformation needed for registration and association with one or morespecial user classes. The user registration performed at step 42 may beperformed by the user through one of the user interfaces shown in FIG. 1(18 a, 18 b, 18 c, 18 d, etc.) associated with the user. The informationcollected during user registration performed at step 42 may be stored ina database accessible the communication system, such as the boardmembership database 26 of FIG. 1, a general user database, or otherdatabase. Step 42 is followed by step 44.

At step 44, the disclosed system determines whether the user is subjectto restrictions on communications defined by a special class. Thedetermination at step 44 may, for example, be based at least in part oninformation provided by the user during registration at step 42.Accordingly, the determination performed at step 44 may involve checkingthe contents of a database of user information and/or restricted groupinformation that is accessible to the communication system. If the useris subject to restrictions associated with a restricted group, then step44 is followed by step 46, in which the user is reminded of theobligations and/or restrictions imposed on the user as a result of theirmembership in the restricted group. Otherwise, step 44 is followed bystep 48.

In order to remind the user of restrictions associated with a specialclass to which they belong, at step 46 the disclosed system may accessinformation regarding such restrictions from a database, such asinformation in the board membership database 26 of FIG. 1. The disclosedsystem presents the user with a reminder of these restrictions at step46 through one of the user interfaces shown in FIG. 1 provided to theuser. For example, the information may be displayed to the user as textdisplayed in a pop-up window, modal dialog box or other specific type ofdisplay object in the user interface. Step 46 is followed by step 48, inwhich the user is allowed to access the communication system.

FIG. 3 is another flow chart showing steps performed in an illustrativeembodiment of the disclosed system. The steps described by the flowchart of FIG. 3 may, for example, be performed by the communicationchecking logic 24 and/or communication application software 22, throughthe user interfaces on the client systems 14 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, at step 50 a user logs into an embodiment of thedisclosed system. In response to the user logging in at step 50, a userprofile is obtained, for example from a database accessible to thecommunication system. At step 54, the user composes a message to bepassed into the communication system. In response to the user attemptingto compose a message at step 54, the embodiment of the disclosed systemillustrated in FIG. 3 determines at step 56 whether the user is a memberof a special user class. The determination at step 56 may be made inresponse to the contents of the user profile obtained at step 52, and/orto the contents of a special class membership database, such as theboard membership database 26 shown in FIG. 1. In an alternativeembodiment, the user is allowed to expressly provide an indication, forexample by a way of a check box or the like presented within the messagecomposition user interface through which the user composes the message,that the user is a member of a special class of users. If the user is amember of a special class, then step 56 is followed by step 58.Otherwise step 56 is followed by step 64.

In step 58, the embodiment of the disclosed system shown in FIG. 3calculates the number of members of the restricted group that areparticipating in the communication to which the message is to be added.For example, in one embodiment the communication system is an on-linediscussion forum, such as a Web site through which users may participatein asynchronous text discussions that are organized into topics andnested responses to those topics. In such an embodiment, a topic plusall responses to the topic is considered to be a communication thread.At step 58, the disclosed system would accordingly count the number ofspecial class members that are currently participating in that thethread into which the message is to be added. For example, the specialclass members that have entered at least one message into the thread maybe considered to be participating in the thread.

In another embodiment, in the case of a e-mail communication system, atstep 58 the disclosed system would count the number of intendedrecipients of the message that are members of the special class. Thedisclosed system may further be embodied to count at step 58 allprevious recipients of the message that are members of the specialclass. Accordingly, each time an e-mail message is forwarded to anotherrecipient that is within the special class of users, that recipient iscounted towards the total number of special class members participatingin the communication.

Alternatively, in an embodiment in which a synchronous communicationsystem is used, at step 58 the disclosed system would count the numberof members in the special class that are currently participating inand/or have earlier participated in but previously left or exited areal-time communication session to which the message is to be added,including the user composing the message. Such a communication sessioncould, for example, be a chat session, on-line meeting, Web conference,VOIP conference call, or other specific type of synchronouscommunication session.

At step 60, the embodiment of FIG. 3 determines whether the total numberof members of the special class would reach the limit associated withthe special class if the message is conveyed. In other words, thedisclosed system determines whether the number of special class membersparticipating in the communication to which the message is to be addedwill meet or exceed a quorum associated with that special class if themessage is added to the communication. For example, if the number ofmembers needed for a quorum in a special class is N, and the number ofmembers of the special class currently participating in a communicationto which the message is determined to be N-1 at step 58, and the usersending the message has not yet participated in the communication, thenthe result of sending the message would be to add 1 more user to thecurrent N-1 special class users participating in the communication,causing the quorum of N users for the special class to be reached. In anembodiment using an on-line discussion forum, if the number of specialclass users participating in a thread N-1, and the user composing thecurrent message has not yet posted a message to the thread, then at step60 the disclosed system would determine that the quorum N would bereached if the message were allowed to be conveyed by the communicationsystem. Similarly, if the number of members of a special classparticipating in a real-time, on-line communication session (e.g. chatsession, e-meeting, Web conference, etc.) were N-1, and another memberof that special class seeks to also participate in that communicationsession, e.g. by adding a message to the session or in some other way,then the disclosed system would determine that the quorum N for thatspecial class would be reached if special class member were allowed tosend the message or otherwise join the session. Also, if the currentlyindicated and/or previous recipients of an e-mail message include N-1members of a special class, and the sender of the e-mail message is alsoa member of the special class, then the disclosed system would determinethat the quorum N for that special class would be reached if the messagewere allowed to be conveyed by the communication system to a recipientwho is also a member of the special class.

If, at step 60 a determination is made that the limit for that specialclass would be reached if the message from the special class member wereconveyed by the communication system, then step 60 is followed by step62. Otherwise, if a determination is made at step 60 that the limit onmembers of the special class participating in a communication would notbe reached if the message were conveyed by the communication system,then step 60 is followed by step 64, at which the message composed atstep 64 is allowed into the communication system for posting to acommunication thread, sending to its intended recipients, and the like.

At step 62, in the event that the quorum for the special class would bereached by allowing the message being composed at step 54 to beconveyed, then the message is rejected. A notification message is passedto the user, informing the user that the message has been rejectedbecause it is in violation of the limits on the special class of usersto which the user belongs. The notification may be provided in a pop-upwindow, modal dialog box or the like, provided through the userinterface (18 a, 18 b) of FIG. 1. The notification provided at step 62may also include one or more options that can be selected by the user.In one embodiment, the notification provided at step 62 enables the userto add the rejected message to an electronic copy of an agenda for apublic meeting that is scheduled for the special user class.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing steps performed in an alternativeillustrative embodiment of the disclosed system. As shown in FIG. 4, atstep 63 a message in the disclosed system may be tagged as a specialmatter that is subject to special class restrictions. For example, amessage or topic may be tagged as a special matter in the event that itcontains or refers to public or board business within the purview of aspecial class (e.g. “any public business or policy within itsjurisdiction”). Messages not containing or referring to any such specialsubject matter, such as messages that are part of purely socialcommunications or on-line conversations, would not be tagged at step 63.

The tagging performed at step 63 may be accomplished in a variety ofways. In a first embodiment of the disclosed system, a messagecomposition user interface enables a user that is a member of a specialclass to expressly tag a message as containing or referring to public orboard business. Such express tagging of a message may, for example, beaccomplished by a message author checking a check box display object orthrough some other type of user indication through one or more displayobjects in the message composition user interface. Alternatively, amessage may be tagged as a special matter in step 63 by another user orgroup of users, potentially other than the message author, thatsubsequently read the message after it has been posted, for examplethrough a message reading interface provided by an on-line discussionforum or the like. Such tagging may similarly be accomplished by anon-author user, who may or may not be a member of the relevant specialclass, through check box or other suitable display objects within a userinterface such as the user interfaces 18 c and 18 d shown in FIG. 1. Inone embodiment, a voting scheme in which the number of users thatindicate a given message or topic should be considered a special matteris counted and compared to a threshold. If the number of usersindicating that the message should be considered a special matterreaches or exceeds the threshold number, then the message is tagged as aspecial matter at step 63. In another embodiment, the disclosed systemperforms an automatic text analysis on the contents of the message todetermine whether it should be tagged as a special matter at step 63.

In the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 4, steps 65, 66, 67, and 68 areonly performed in the event that a message is tagged as a specialmatter. Otherwise, if a message is not tagged as a special matter, it isallowed to be entered into the communication system at step 69.

The remaining steps of FIG. 4 correspond to steps described above withrespect to FIG. 3, and are performed analogously. Step 65 corresponds tostep 56 of FIG. 3, step 66 corresponds to step 58 of FIG. 3, step 67corresponds to step 60 of FIG. 3, step 68 corresponds to step 62 of FIG.3, and step 69 corresponds to step 64 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a simplified screen shot showing a restricted group definitionuser interface for an illustrative embodiment of the disclosed system.The restricted group definition user interface 70 of FIG. 5 may, forexample, be provided by the communication application 22 as part of theuser interfaces (18 a, 18 b, 18 c, 18 d, etc.) of FIG. 1, for example aspart of a user interface provided to a member of a restricted group, toan appropriate administrative user such as a town clerk of the like, orto a regular user. The information obtained through the restricted groupdefinition user interface 70 of FIG. 5 may, for example, be stored inrestricted group definition database, such as the board membershipdatabase 26 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, the restricted groupdefinition user interface 70 may be presented during step 36 of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 5, an example of a special class definition userinterface 70 includes a group name field 72 into which a user can enterthe name of the special class being defined. Members of the specialclass can be added to a member list for the special class by entering amember name into the field 74, and then entering the username or e-mailaddress of the member into the field 76. Clicking on the ADD MEMBERbutton 78 then causes a member with name and username or e-mail addressto be added to the member list for the special class.

A field 80 enables a user to enter a number of members that constitute aquorum for the special class, and a meeting date field 82 enables theuser to enter a date for a next scheduled meeting to be associated withthe special class. When the user clicks on the OK button 84, informationentered for the special class is added to a database storing specialclass definition information.

FIG. 6 is a simplified screen shot showing a message rejection userinterface for an illustrative embodiment of the disclosed system. Themessage rejected user interface 90 of FIG. 6 may, for example, beprovided by the communication application 22 as part of the userinterfaces (18 a, 18 b, etc.) of FIG. 1, and provided to a member of arestricted group in the event a message has been rejected due to therestrictions associated with a special class. The information providedthrough the message rejected user interface 90 of FIG. 6 may includeinformation stored in a special class definition database, such as theboard membership database 26 of FIG. 1. The message rejected userinterface 90 may, for example, be provided by an embodiment of thedisclosed system at step 62 of FIG. 3 or step 68 of FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 6, the message rejected user interface 90 includes anindication 92 that the message that the user was attempting to transmitor otherwise enter into the communication system was rejected due torestrictions associated with a special class that the user belongs to.An indication 94 is also included advising that the user can select anoptional step with regard to the rejected message. In the example ofFIG. 6, the user is allowed to add the rejected message to theelectronically stored agenda for the next scheduled meeting of thespecial class on a date 96. The example of FIG. 6 provides a firstgraphical button object 98 that causes the rejected message to be addedto the agenda if the user clicks on it, and a second graphical buttonobject 100 that does not cause the rejected message to be added to theagenda, but simply returns the user to the message that they wereattempting to enter into the communication system. At that point theuser may decide to delete the message, change the list of recipients, ortake some other action.

FIG. 7 is a simplified screen shot showing a message composition userinterface 110 for an illustrative embodiment of the disclosed system. Asshown in FIG. 7, the user interface 110 includes a number of actionbuttons 112, shown for purposes of illustration including a send button112 a, an attach button 112 b, an encrypt button 112 c, etc. A TO: field114 and a Cc: field 116 allow a message author to indicate therecipients of the message being composed, which is shown including thenew message content 120. A Subject: field allows the message author toindicate a message subject. A check box 122 enables the message authorto indicate that they are a member of a special class, e.g. a member ofthe Board of Selectmen or another special class. The check box 122 is anexample of how a message can be tagged as a special matter consistentwith step 63 in the illustrative embodiment of the disclosed systemshown in FIG. 4.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that while the messagecomposition user interface 110 is for an electronic mail communicationapplication or the like, the present system is not so limited, andalternative message composition user interfaces may be used asappropriate for on-line discussion forums, instant messaging, and/or anyother appropriate type of communication system for a given embodiment.Moreover, while a check box 122 is shown for purposes of illustration asan example of a display object enabling a message author to indicatethat they are a member of a special class, any other specific type ofdisplay object that enables the user to make such indication may be usedin the alternative.

The disclosed system may be embodied to address enforcement of publicmeeting laws, such as the Open Meeting Law (“OML”) of Massachusetts(Massachusetts General Laws—Chapter 39, Section 23B). In such anembodiment, when a user signs up to use a communication system, such asan on-line discussion forum or the like, they specify whether they are amember of a special class of persons subject to the OML, e.g., aSelectman. Such special class users would be prohibited fromparticipating in on-line discussions with others of that same specialgroup, e.g., other members of the Board of Selectmen, if doing so wouldcreate a quorum of that group discussing the same issue. In oneembodiment, the disclosed system would disable the user's ability tocompose a response to a topic in an on-line discussion forum in theevent that entering that response would cause a quorum of special classmembers to be created within that topic.

For example, consider a use case in which a town has a Board ofSelectmen with 5 members: Dini, Jeff, Chris, Jim and Val. Further assumefor purposes of example that the number of Selectmen resulting in aquorum is 3. In such a case, any three of Dini, Jeff, Chris, Jim or Valwould constitute a quorum. The town may then provide an on-linediscussion forum using an embodiment of the disclosed system. A citizennamed Rob may then post a comment in the on-line discussion forumregarding the town's budget. Selectman Jim then enters a response toRob's post, and later in the same discussion thread Selectman Chris alsoenters a response to Rob's post. At that point, if Selectman Jeff triesto enter a response to the topic, he would be prevented from doing so bythe disclosed system, since a third Selectman commenting on the sameissue could be interpreted as allowing a quorum of Selectmen todeliberate outside of a properly constituted public meeting, inviolation of the OML.

As described above, the disclosed system can be embodied to identifymembers of any specific special class of users having access to acommunication system. Special classes may be defined to cover anycategory of persons to whom an open meeting regulation might apply, suchas a Board of Selectman member, a School Committee member, a PlanningBoard member, etc. This membership identification information for eachspecial class may be maintained either within a database accessible toserver application code for the communication system, and/or within in aclient-side software “cookie” or the like stored on the client system.The forum software would also allow the administrator of the server torecord the statutory number of persons on each board which constitute aquorum of that board, e.g., three if majority constitutes a quorum on aseven-person board.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that while the above descriptionincludes reference to operation of various embodiments with regard tocontrolling the entry of messages into a communication system, thedisclosed system may further be embodied to control access to contentbased on the number of members of a special class of users that haveaccessed the content. In such an embodiment, the disclosed system wouldcount the number of members of a special class that have accessed acontent item, such as a file, document, etc. When the number of specialclass members having accessed the content item reaches one less than aquorum associated with the special class, subsequent attempts by otherspecial class members to access the content item would be denied.

Those skilled in the art will further recognize that the disclosedsystem can be embodied to control communications involving any specifictype of message contents, such as text, images, audio, video, etc. Forexample, an embodiment of the disclosed system could be provided thatprevented a quorum of special class members from participating in avideo conference, accessing the same video content, etc.

The present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or acombination of hardware and software. A system according to the presentinvention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computersystem, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spreadacross several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computersystem or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods describedherein is suited. A typical combination of hardware and software couldbe a general purpose computer system with a computer program that, whenbeing loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that itcarries out the methods described herein.

The figures include block diagram and flowchart illustrations ofmethods, apparatus(s) and computer program products according to anembodiment of the invention. It will be understood that each block insuch figures, and combinations of these blocks, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processingapparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which executeon the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus createmeans for implementing the functions specified in the block or blocks.These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable medium or memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium or memory produce an article of manufacture including instructionmeans which implement the function specified in the block or blocks. Thecomputer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theblock or blocks.

Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that programsdefining the functions of the present invention can be delivered to acomputer in many forms; including, but not limited to: (a) informationpermanently stored on non-writable storage media (e.g. read only memorydevices within a computer such as ROM or CD-ROM disks readable by acomputer I/O attachment); (b) information alterably stored on writablestorage media (e.g. floppy disks and hard drives); or (c) informationconveyed to a computer through communication media for example usingwireless, baseband signaling or broadband signaling techniques,including carrier wave signaling techniques, such as over computer ortelephone networks via a modem.

While the invention is described through the above exemplaryembodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the artthat modification to and variation of the illustrated embodiments may bemade without departing from the inventive concepts herein disclosed.

1. A method for preventing violations of legal regulations on users ofan electronic communication system, comprising: determining whether auser composing a message to be conveyed using said electroniccommunication system is a member of a special class of users whosecommunications are subject to said legal regulations; responsive todetermining that said user is a member of said special class,determining a number of special class members that would beparticipating in a communication to which said message would be added ifsaid message were conveyed using said electronic communication system;determining whether said number of special class members that would beparticipating in said communication if said message were conveyed usingsaid electronic communication system would be as large as a limitassociated with said special class; and responsive to determining thatsaid number of special class members that would be participating in saidcommunication if said message were conveyed using said communicationsystem would be at least as large as said limit associated with saidspecial class, preventing said message from being conveyed by saidelectronic communication system.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein saidlimit associated with said special class is a quorum associated withsaid special class.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:defining said special class, wherein said defining includes enteringsaid quorum associated with said special class.
 4. The method of claim3, wherein said defining said special class further comprises definingsaid user as a member of said special class.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: in the event that said message is prevented frombeing conveyed using said electronic communication system, presenting anotification indicating to said user that said message is prevented frombeing conveyed because of said determination that said user is a memberof said special class, and wherein said notification provides an optionfor redirecting said message.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein saidelectronic communication system comprises one of a set consisting of asynchronous electronic communication system and an asynchronouselectronic communication system.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: in response to said determination that said user is a memberof said special class, presenting a notification to said user remindingsaid user of restrictions associated with said special class with regardto communications using said electronic communication system.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: in the event that said number ofmembers of said special class that would be participating in saidcommunication if said message were conveyed using said electroniccommunication system would be less than said limit associated with saidspecial class, allowing said message to be conveyed using saidelectronic communication system.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein saiddetermining whether said user is a member of said special class furthercomprises checking an identity of said user against a special classdefinition database.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said determiningwhether said user is a member of said special class further compriseschecking an identity of said user against a user profile database. 11.The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether said user is amember of said special class further comprises providing a userinterface object within a message composition user interface enablingsaid user to provide an indication that said user is a member of saidspecial class.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said determiningwhether said number of special class members that would be participatingin said communication if said message were conveyed using saidelectronic communication system would be as large as a limit associatedwith said special class comprises counting special class members thathave entered posts into a discussion thread into which said messagewould be added to in an on-line discussion forum when conveyed by saidcommunication system.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein saiddetermining whether said number of special class members that would beparticipating in said communication if said message were conveyed usingsaid electronic communication system would be as large as a limitassociated with said special class comprises counting members of thespecial class that are currently participating in a real-timecommunication session to which said message would be added when conveyedby said electronic communication system.
 14. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining whether said message regards subjectmatter within a purview of said special class; and performing said stepof preventing said message from being conveyed by said electroniccommunication system only in the event that said message regards saidsubject matter within said purview of said special class.
 15. A systemincluding a computer readable memory, said computer readable memoryhaving stored thereon program code for preventing violations of legalregulations on users of an electronic communication system, said programcode comprising: program code for determining whether a user composing amessage to be conveyed using said electronic communication system is amember of a special class of users whose communications are subject tosaid legal regulations; program code for, responsive to determining thatsaid user is a member of said special class, determining a number ofspecial class members that would be participating in a communication towhich said message would be added in the event that said message wereconveyed using said electronic communication system; program code fordetermining whether said number of special class members that would beparticipating in said communication if said message were added to saidcommunication would be as large as a limit associated with said specialclass; and program code for, responsive to determining that said numberof special class members that would be participating in saidcommunication if said message were added to said communication would beat least as large as said limit associated with said special class,preventing said message from being conveyed by said electroniccommunication system.
 16. A computer program product including acomputer readable storage medium, said computer readable storage mediumhaving stored thereon program code for preventing violations of legalregulations on users of an electronic communication system, said programcode comprising: program code for determining whether a user composing amessage to be conveyed using said electronic communication system is amember of a special class of users whose communications are subject tosaid legal regulations; program code for, responsive to determining thatsaid user is a member of said special class, determining a number ofspecial class members that would be participating in a communication towhich said message would be added in the event that said message wereconveyed using said electronic communication system; program code fordetermining whether said number of special class members that would beparticipating in said communication if said message were added to saidcommunication would be as large as a limit associated with said specialclass; and program code for, responsive to determining that said numberof special class members that would be participating in saidcommunication if said message were added to said communication would beat least as large as said limit associated with said special class,preventing said message from being conveyed by said electroniccommunication system.